The Stanford Cardinal defeated the top-seeded University of Michigan Wolverines 361.4-352.15 on Saturday evening in Stanford men’s gymnastics’ last home meet of 2010.

Saturday’s win was a sweet victory for most of the Cardinal men, who pulled out all the stops to deliver their best performances yet — and to post the country’s season-high team score.

But while the event was spectacular for the Cardinal and its fans, it was also a bittersweet farewell for its seniors, who competed in their last collegiate meet on home turf.

Seniors Eric Hergenrader, Nick Noone and Lucas Hughes, along with redshirt senior and co-captain Greg Ter-Zakhariants, were honored by their families, friends and fellow teammates during Saturday evening’s festivities.

According to head coach Thom Glielmi, the meet showcased the seniors’ “athletic, academic and working exploits.”

For those four men, gymnastics life at Stanford has been full of uncertain ups and downs. Before a packed house at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday night, the four let their stories unfold.

Hergenrader, one of Stanford’s most solid pommel competitors, has spent the last four years being overshadowed by his all-around teammates. Despite last year’s team championship in which he contributed a solid pommel set, Hergenrader still feels he has much to prove. In his last home meet at Stanford, he proved just how much he had to contribute on pommel, floor and vault.

Noone, meanwhile, has forever been known as the still rings and parallel bars expert, no doubt thanks to his extremely muscular physique. And while he has certainly been a force on both events, Noone should also be known as the man who committed himself to making Stanford men’s gymnastics a visible force. It is partially thanks to his efforts that attendance at the Cardinal’s meets has nearly tripled this year — an undeniable feat for a sport that often gets overlooked.

Hughes himself almost got overlooked. After two shoulder surgeries in 2007 and 2008, his physicians and coaches came to the realization that Hughes’ gymnastics life would never be the same. For a while, it even seemed like there would be no gymnastics life for him at all. But after months of rehabilitation, meditation and sheer grunt work, this senior returned on just one event — pommel horse — to bid a heartfelt farewell to the sport.

And finally, Ter-Zakhariants said goodbye. The “super senior” who spent his freshman year nursing his broken neck, and the past two years fighting a bulged disc in his lower back, has perhaps trained the least of his teammates this year, but has fought to join the lineup. And on Saturday, he ended his collegiate career at home on his much-loved pommel horse.

Besides hearing and watching those four men perform, the rest of the night flowed in true gymnastics style.

Starting out on floor exercise, Hergenrader set the tone with a strong final pass, while juniors Alex Buscaglia, Tim Gentry and Abhinav Ramani followed with their own clean and solid routines.

On pommel horse — the Cardinal’s most dreaded event — the usually reliable veteran Ter-Zakhariants got the team off to shaky start. However, Hughes brought Stanford back to life with a solid 14.1, while sophomore John Martin delivered the set he has been waiting for all season, earning a 15.4 and contributing to the team’s season-high event score of 58.4. But, according to Glielmi, the gymnasts “still have room to improve.”

Next, the Cardinal men displayed their sheer strength on still rings, with Gentry and freshman James Fosco posting scores of over 15.0 each. Speaking specifically about Fosco, Glielmi said, “His flawless strength is impressive.”

According to Glielmi, his men still have the ability to do better. Junior Ryan Lieberman needs to perfect his new and more complicated dismount, while Noone has yet to add his.

On vault, the Cardinal posted an event record of 64.25. On parallel bars, Noone stole the show by hitting a difficult set that earned him a score of 15.35. And finally, on high bar, Buscaglia and Ramani both completed complicated and dizzying routines that earned them scores of 15.4 and 15.1, respectively.

Next up, Stanford has a busy weekend ahead with a tri-meet against the Air Force Academy and the University of Illinois-Chicago at Air Force on Friday and another tri-meet against the University of Nebraska and the University of Oklahoma at Nebraska on Sunday.